When 20-year-old Adam Lanza walked into the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, he carried two handguns, several hundred rounds of ammunition and a rifle that has become a flashpoint in the ongoing debate over gun rights in America.

Police say that the 20 children and six adults killed at the school were murdered with a .223 caliber Bushmaster AR-15 rifle. It’s one of the most popular types of sporting rifles in the country: between 2000 and 2010, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, more than two million AR-15-type rifles have been sold by various manufacturers. It’s a weapon of choice among firearm enthusiasts and is “hugely popular for recreational target shooting,” according to Guns and Ammo.

But it has also turned up in the hands of perpetrators of mass murder. A Bushmaster .223 was used by Jacob Tyler Roberts to kill two people and then himself at an Oregon shopping mall last week. It was also one of the weapons allegedly brandished by James Holmes, charged with killing 12 people and wounding 58 at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., earlier this summer. And it’s similar to the weapon used in the Beltway Sniper shootings, in which John Allen Muhammed and Lee Boyd Malvo used it to kill 10 and wound three others.

The AR-15 rifle was first developed by the Fairchild ArmaLite corporation in 1957. ArmaLite sold the rights to the design to Colt in 1959, and the weapon was adapted for military use as the M16; it went in to service in Vietnam in 1963. The modern AR-15 is a demilitarized version of the M16, and is now manufactured by several companies including Bushmaster, Colt and ArmaLite. It is a lightweight, small-caliber semi-automatic rifle, with a light recoil and a variety of optional barrel lengths and targeting/aiming devices. Minnesota Sen. Michelle Bachmann said during her presidential campaign that the AR-15 is her favorite gun “because you can be so accurate with it.” Depending on the make, model and options, an AR-15 can cost anywhere from $900 to $2000.

Because it falls under the federal definition of the term “assault weapon,” the AR-15 has long been a target of anti-gun legislation. “It was one of the weapons [specifically] banned by the Assault Weapons Ban legislation in 1994,” Christopher Koper, criminology professor at George Mason University tells TIME. According to the U.S. Code, an semiautomatic weapon can be “any repeating rifle which utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round, and which requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each cartridge.”

But one of the other focuses of the law were large-capacity magazines he said, which are designed to hold more than 10 rounds, which can also be used with the AR-15. “That’s the key to the weapons’ firepower. It gives a shooter a high number of shots without having to stop and reload,” said Koper.

After making sure firearms are kept out of the hands of “dangerous, high risk people,” says Jon Vernick, co-director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, “We need to talk about guns no one ought to be able to possess. We ought to be looking at civilian versions of military-style weapons that have features that are military-oriented, and that it’s hard to imagine that civilians need to have.”

The military-style features that Vernick is talking about include flash suppresors, to disperse gases coming from the muzzle, thereby reducing its flash; a bayonet lug, which allows the attachment of a bayonet; and telescoping stocks, that help to collapse the weapon for use in tighter spaces.

Bushmaster, based in Madison, N.C., was founded in 1973 by Richard Dyke, who sold the company to Cerebrus Capital Managment in 2006 before he went on to open firearms maker Windham Weaponry. The company sells an entire catalogue of firearms for hunting, competitive sport shooting, military and law enforcement uses, as well as attachments and accessories. It’s currently part of the Freedom Group, a conglomerate of arms manufacturers whose 13 brands also include Remington, Marlin Firearms, and DPMS/Panther. In 2011, the company had sales of $775 million, according to its annual report, and sold 1.1 million rifles and 2 billion rounds of ammunition.

Bushmaster’s past entanglements with mass shootings have not been good for business. The company paid $500,000 as part of a $2.5 million settlement in the Beltway Sniper shootings, which prompted the firm to close its factory in 2010 and later reopen in Ilion, N.Y., a small town 80 miles west of Albany. With the Newtown shootings, however, it’s run into even more trouble. Not only has the company been publicly pilloried for an ad campaign that some said (in hindsight) promoted a culture of misogyny and violence, it’s also being put up for sale by Cerebrus because of the attention brought by the Newtown tragedy.

“We believe that this decision allows us to meet our obligations to the investors whose interests we are entrusted to protect without being drawn into the national debate that is more properly pursued by those with the formal charter and public responsibility to do so,” Cerebrus said in a statement.

I do hope that Bushmaster sues Time for leaving this article on here. True journalists seek to report the truth, investigating their sources, following up on new information and RETRACTING untrue information.

I too followed the link below by msnbc about the weapons found @ Sandy Hook. I'm ashamed to say I always believed Time to be a reputable news source, not a platform for ideologic agenda. Your use of mis-information is repulsive to free thinking Americans. We can count on the government to lie every now & then,hell most people don't really want to know the truth about some things. But when it concerns the future of our 2cd. amendment rights,you should take great care to respect the integrity of fact. Too many have died defending it's honor & freedom, for you to exert influence by twisting the truth via the media.You may as well stand up for chairman Mao while your at it.

Wait, an AR-15 was not used in the Sandy Hook shooting. This article is propoganda and full of lies. There were four handguns found inside the school, and a semiautomatic shotgun of some type was found in the trunk of a car. I have been shouting this since like day five after the shooting, and it is finally being heard. Want proof? http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50208495#50208495

I recall the early reports saying the rifle was found in his car and his body was found in the school. Most every news agency at the time said he used two semi-automatic handguns. Havent heard how many children were killed with "assault rifle". I don't think the media is giving us the whole story. How can you use 3 guns at the same time? And have one found in the car? They are trying toskew the facts to sit their design, we cannot allow this to happen to our rights. Sadly there is nothing we can do to stop criminals from killing unless you are psychic and know when and where a crime will take place. Its just life folks, sad as it is on some days.

What a pack of lies. There is no way the little monster Lanza could have "carried two handguns, several hundred rounds of ammunition" with him into Sandy Hook Elementary. Several hundred rounds of ammunition would have required more than two hands PLUS the Glock and the Sig? No way. This is just propaganda, in the spirit of Goebbels. No wonder Time Magazine went bankrupt.

"And it’s similar to the weapon used in the Beltway Sniper shootings, in which John Allen Muhammed and Lee Boyd Malvo used it to kill 10 and wound three others."

Interestingly enough - that case, used conveniently here to support a faulty premise, really matters not in this discussion - as the specific rifle used in that set of shootings were not "augmented" by the firearm type. Indeed - even a simple bolt action or even single-shot rifle would have been as effective (and maybe moreso).

According to a police source, the Bushmaster was found in the trunk of the car in the parking lot. This was confirmed and widely reported. Many of these reports are already "updated" aka scrubbed 1984 style. Hard to believe that the police didn't know exactly which weapon they found and where. What is going on here? Have we somehow passed over into the twilight zone?

In 2011, if you were a murder victim, it is 5 times more likely that you were killed with a knife than with a rifle, 1694 knife murders vs. 323 rifle murders. In fact, shotguns generally account for more victims than rifles.

This is just more hysterical hyperbole by the liberals and media to create more infringements upon our God given rights.

That stock that makes your AR-15 a select fire weapon was too cool.I forgot why I was here after watching the Slide Fire Solutions SSAR-15 video.I have to get one of those.It looked like a ton of fun at the range.

This entire gun control issue has been dominated by individuals with a total lack of awareness and an abundance of hypocrisy. I for one was offended by the callous disregard for people grieving after Aurora and Newtown. Not even 24 hours after the incidents, rock star anchors and reporters were on the ground, with moronic questions like how do you feel. Shortly thereafter came the assault weapon dialogue, which dominated the agenda. Pathetic!However, the heart of my comment goes to three issues. First and foremost, is the concept of individual accountability.Mrs. Lanza was the legal owner of the weapons used in Newtown. It was known to Mrs. Lanza that her son Adam had significant emotional issues. Yet, there is no evidence to suggest that Mrs. Lanza took any steps to secure those weapons. Weapons ultimately used against her.We have a very serious gang problem in the United States. Based on FBI statistics, gangs account for 60% of all violent crimes in the use. Ninety four percent of that occurs with firearms that are obtained illegally. This is documented in 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment – Emerging Trends, published by the FBI. The lion’s share of that violence is gang business related, principally street level drug distribution. Much of that occurs at our nation’s schools; age or grade levels are no barrier; having said that, it is hugely irresponsible not to have armed security at schools – especially with the abundance of off-duty officers that are willing to work part-time jobs. The school, did not have an alarm, many of the classroom doors could not be locked. Again, individual and organizational accountability. Instead, we blame “assault weapons”. Folks a hammer or baseball bat is an “assault weapon.”Finally inform yourselves so that you aren’t treated like mushrooms by the media.In 2011 there was a total of 8,583 gun homicides; 6,220 (72%) were committed using handguns; 323 (4%) were committed using rifles – Source Expanded Homicide Data Table 8 (Source FBI Report).Keep in mind, that roughly 60% or 5,150 of the 8,583 gun homicides are gang related. So, where should we be focusing our undivided attention? Certainly not guns.Our attention should focused on gangs and gang related activity, and challenge the Mayors and Chief Law Enforcement Officials in major metropolitan, and even urban, areas to take on the task. That’s how you address gun violence in this country.

Timothy McVey did not use an assault rifle. When the laws are all written and honest citizens have been sufficiently inconvenienced, the government will tout their new statistics about how few violent crimes are committed with guns, while totally ignoring how many more are committed with alternate and equally powerful weapons.

Another note... a long time ago there were few laws government personal use weapons. Little by little, owning a weapon for self protection became increasingly difficult. It reminds me of what happened with the DUI laws. Over the years, as fewer and fewer people have been arrested for DUI, governments have repeatedly lowered the level of alcohol required for a conviction. When will they stop?

It makes me wonder how long it will be before owning a sharpened lead pencil is a Federal offense.

@E.L.Smith I just came across this article and was amazed that it existed! To think that the President is touting gun legislation on the backs of a massacure created by handguns and then switch blame to an AR-15 which fits his agenda better is more than scarry. The worst of the situation is the media's lock-step with that agenda to the level of outright lying. Tough times ahead I am afraid.

So far, I would say, barring deliberate misinformation from the CT State Police, we "know" the .223 was in the building; it may be reasonable to assume Lanza took it into the building; he may have used it. I haven't found any coroner's report stating there were any .22 cal wounds in the victims

@perilousliberty Go ahead and argue for your right to own guns. But please stop using that ridiculous phrase, "God given rights". God has nothing to do with the second amendment, or your right to own a gun.

"INCONVENIENCED"???? People like YOU are the reason I wish to have the crime scene photos released so the entire world can see what a six year old girl looks like after three .223 round went through her little body.

@redmerlot Actually, many of the original amendments to the constitution, especially those that arose from the bill of rights as did the 2nd amendment (and the 1st amendment) were based on the concept of the "natural law of man" espoused by John Locke and embedded in English Common law which was much of the basis of our constitution. This concept of common law explained that there were rights that were given to men by a higher power than government. Whether one wants to call that power God or "Nature" or whatever is up to them. The theory is that because the government did not bestow these rights on the people, government could not arbitrarily take them away either. Thus arose the concept of rights given by God. The grounding principle is that guns not only were to be used for self protection (which is argued is a right of nature and not of man) but to protect one's self from the government. In fact the ability to rebel against the government, if necessary, is considered an even more important natural right.

Of course, this conception of natural or God given rights is one that is hotly debated but one that does exist so to say that God given rights is a ridiculous phrase simply displays your lack of understanding of the documents that lay the foundation of our country.

I don't know who or where the right to keep and bear arms emanates from, but careful reading of the 2nd amendment and the preamble to the Bill of Rights affirms that the amendment asserts a constraint on government rather than granting a right to the people. It stated, by implication, the right already existed.

@redmerlot@perilousliberty Dear fcuktard, the "Rights" found in the "Bill of Rights" are GOD GIVEN, every American HAS those rights. They are NOT given by the government, for if they were, the government would be able to take them away when they see fit.

@alaskanrainbows@richard.draucker She looks just like a 6 year old girl killed by three rounds fired from a 22 revolver. Maybe you'd like to also see the photos of the kids in the day care center that was blown up when Timothy McVey used no guns at all. Limiting which weapons are available is like playing whack-a-mole. The killing will continue, the method and means is all that will change. A much bigger change is needed than limiting a few popular weapons and reducing clips from 20 to 10 rounds.

@mezchr@19Delta@redmerlot@perilousliberty The phrase "God given" is another way of saying "inalienable" or essentially: you were born with them. It is SOOOOO important for a Liberal to point out their disbelief of God that they have to distract every argument they can.

@lennydesk@JasonHardy@richard.draucker I applaud your willingness to focus on the objective, preventing another similar event, rather than focusing on feel good emotional responses like banning guns or limiting clips to 7 rounds. To protect schools, I'm thinking a reasonable deterrent would be a big wall or electrified fence with a guard gate at the front. That reduces the number of guards needed, keeping them outside the school itself. A vehicle sticker system would allow faculty and pre-screened parents and vendors unimpeded access. Generally, kids on foot would face minimal security, but guards would be trained to watch for kids on foot who have suspicious looking backpacks. It could be paid for from school sports budgets, shifting funds from sports programs that benefit an insignificant percentage of the student population to a security program that benefits the entire school population.

@JasonHardy@richard.drauckerActually a .22LR round is way more deadly than a .223. where a .223 round will pass thru the body and exit a .22LR will explode on impact of a bone, making it a very deadly fragment type round. Don't believe me ask any medical examiner who has ever did an autopsy on .22LR victim or a firearms specialist. Either your .22LR shooter didn't know what he/she was doing or the ammo was defective. Anyway the type of firearm used is not the point. A 10 or 30rd .22LR would have been just as sufficient in this case or any firearm fired into the chest cavity or striking an artery, but that's still not the point. The point is how could something like this happen in the first place? The first thing is that schools were made gun free zones and signs were put up stating as much, which was an open invitation for some deranged nut to inflict maximum damage with minimal risk. The signs and the law i think is still a good idea but lets add a couple more steps. Take these off duty police officers and put 4 of them on school grounds (two inside and two paroling the parking lots) After school is in session lock the doors to where one can exit but not re-enter without proper authorization. (we need to be able to get out in case of a fire or other hazard). How much will it cost? Well who cares what it costs as long as our kids are provided with a safe environment. OK genius how will it be paid for you ask. Well most every state has a lottery which ours was supposed to go to teachers salaries anyway. At one point our lottery was at 450 million dollars last year. Almost every week it is 15 to 25 million.That would be plenty for a state to give teachers a raise and provide off duty officers a supplemental income plus they would actually be doing their community a great service. (To Protect And Serve) Uniformed officers would be a deterrent to most criminals and the ones who did insist could be dealt with outside. And what better way to get kids in touch with the police and learn some real world values. I know this is the parents responsibility but now days both parents have to work to make ends meet sometimes 10 12 hours a day and they just don't have the amount of necessary time with their kids it takes to teach them solid morals and good values. And before you call me a NRA lobbyist, Well i am not even a member nor do i share all their views in opinion, I do however support the 2nd amendment and do not think any man or gov has the right to change or infringe on any of it. (It should be my choice what firearm i choose to own as long as i obtain it legally) With that being said i want to extend my deepest sympathy to the mothers, fathers, and families of the newton victims. This is something we as nation should not have to tolerate.

@JasonHardy@richard.draucker You know what, I tell people here about how whacked most Americans really. But it takes someone like you for them to really comprehend just how bad the country has gotten. Thanks! People like you are the main reason America can no longer compete. More for those of us smart enough to have gotten out while it was still possible.

All I needed to do was Google your name. It took two seconds to look at your page and see you're a chickensh*t who ran away from the U.S. to hide in a walled neighborhood in the Philippines where you can't go outside of your little world without being eyes like a piece of meat.

You live in the "Corruption Capital of Asia" where the police are just as dangerous as the street thugs. You live in a bubble. Just accept the fact that you can't safely travel anywhere in your new home country because you are TRULY UNSAFE.

Your story of living in the U.S., although probably 80% true, still smacks of BS. I doubt the "police stole your stuff"... right. I've had my car stereo stolen while my car was impounded, and that was because the impound yard was a private company with no security. Some teenagers probably stole it.

Do you even own a car now? I doubt it. You're not "FREE" to own a car, because even if you could afford it, someone would probably steal it unless it was locked in a garage.

It's amazing how skewed your views are, and you don't even live in the U.S. anymore. I DO have plenty of time sitting at WORK during the Christmas holiday as an engineer for a Fortune 100 company. And my wife is a non-profit case manager helping pregnant women with HIV in the poorest neighborhoods get access to medication that costs $600 a month.

You keep peddling your internet "Yellow Pages" or whatever it is that you do, working from your prison hidden away in another country and wishing you had freedom.

If you actually pay U.S. taxes, which I doubt, you probably hide 95% of your income and assets, so don't lecture me about how your tax money funding "freebies" for "moochers"... the 47% are the working poor, the elderly, the military, and others who can barely afford to live. 99% of them are not scammers trying to get free stuff. (there ARE scammers, but those types of people are in ALL income classes, including the wealthy)

MY tax dollars also go to Conservative programs like war, the military and its R&D, Corporate welfare, tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation and the nightmare that usually follows, etc.

Can you believe Mitt the Twit wanted to actually EXPAND the military?? WTF? How is that a recipe for saving this country? The guy's a f*cking genius!

Anyways, have fun in your malaria-ridden hellhole, hiding in your little enclave, afraid to go out at night while poverty-stricken Filipinos scratch around trying to break in to you and your neighbors' houses in the middle of the night.

I'm going to go back to CONTRIBUTING to my country by working hard, paying my taxes, voting for Progressives who believe in the separation of church and state, and enjoying my home in Florida.

P.S. Watch your back. If you have a housekeeper, her boyfriend might somehow manage to get into your house and stick a knife in your back.

@JasonHardy@richard.draucker You're really quite insane aren't you? You actually spend personal time scratching around the web to come up with background information about me so you could, what? win and argument? It's a simple difference of opinion based on my actual experience versus your imagination.

I lived in Miami longer than in Philly. Go ahead, try riding a bicycle through there. Stop at a few of the bars and restaurants on 8th St (Calle Ocho) late at night. Tell me how that works out.

In fact, I've lived in a lot of places, but I'm originally from the rural central Pennsylvania. That's where I was robbed 3 times at gun point, once at knife point, had a home burglarized, a car stolen, a car robbed, and the police stole my stuff. The entire country is unsafe and the police are more corrupt than most Philippine politicians.

You sound like the typical left wing-nut who is terrified of losing his freebies and actually having to go out and work for a living. Keep your greedy fingers out of my pockets and try accepting responsibility for yourself. I built my business all by myself. And rather than having help from the government like the Obama propagandists spew, I built it in spite of all the obstacles that government puts up to keep Americans from being able to compete. I doubt you could build that bicycle you talk about much less a business without government assistance paid for with my tax dollars.

A typical ranch home in the suburbs where desperate poor people are trying to scale the walls and get into you and your neighbors homes to steal anything they can take?

Neither you nor your friend have any clue how much better the U.S. is compared to the Philippines (lol) or Vietnam (double-lol).

You "lived in both"... hmm, let's see... you went from what sounds like the worst part of Philly PA to a walled compound in a foreign county that is rife with murder, kidnapping, robberies, burglaries, corruption, and terrorism.

I'm a little confused by your definition of "freedoms" exactly. Which "freedoms" are you able to exercise that I cannot??

Here's an exercise for you... you grab a bicycle and ride it across the Philippines, stopping at every drinking establishment and restaurant, and order a drink or something to eat... ALONE. Go all the way from your safe little enclave to the farthest end of the country, say Luzon to Davao and back.

And let's see who makes it unscathed... you wouldn't make it 100 miles without being robbed, threatened, stalked, or worse.

Meanwhile, I can go into any restaurant, bar, club, park or anywhere else without being molested.

See, in America, we have crime especially among gang members, but in the Philippines they have real GANGSTERS. Organized crime syndicates and terrorist organizations that actively rob, kidnap, extort, and murder with impunity, especially in the lawless countryside.

Thousands of Americans have ridden bicycles, cars, and walked from one end of the US to the other with total freedom and with no fear of being victimized during their trip.

I can also leave my house at midnight and go to a downtown club, enjoy my night with drinks and food, without needing a local escort or worry about being robbed, kidnapped, or anything else.

Can you say the same?

YOU are the one without freedom, in a country where the water is unclean, the mail service is a joke, you can't flaunt any kind of wealth without being robbed, the local people die from true poverty, tuberculosis, animal bites, and all the other "FUN" third-world problems that the U.S. left behind a long time ago.

You sit in your little faux-suburbian enclave, pretending you live in some fantasy version of the United States, spouting off your Republican ideals while they rip this country apart. Republicanism has been a scourge on this country for too long. Bush, Reagan, and his ilk have literally pushed this country to the brink of destruction thanks to the Cold War, the military-industrial complex, two unfunded wars, the Patriot Act, the expiration of the Assault Weapons Ban, and a hundred other "Conservative" brainchildren.

Just so you know, I've looked at your Google Plus page, and you should keep your sh*tty Obama-bashing, Conservative-regurgitating nonsense to yourself. You do not live in the United States anymore. You don't have Freedom of Speech or the Constitution in-general anymore.

Obama didn't win the election "by appealing to the people on the receiving end of the nation's social programs (i.e. free money)", you d*ck. He won because more than half of the country is sick and tired of letting the CORPORATIST party (AKA the Republicans) keep tearing down everything this country stands for in the name of "freedom" and "values" (all of which are a smokescreen to hide their true intentions).

In short, you suck. Your new home sucks. And the USA rocks because we care about each other and our minorities.

@JasonHardy@richard.draucker That cool aid tastes great doesn't it? Just keep telling yourself how good you have it. Take away all the guns, all the civil liberties, and spend your time watching the government drones flying overhead to keep you from thinking wrong.

Our "compound" is a typical ranch house subdivision that might be found in any America suburb. The rest of your 'facts' are equally wrong. Claiming that Manila is unsafe because of fighting on one of 7,000 islands several thousand miles away is like suggesting that Disneyworld is unsafe because there are gang bangers in New York.

More importantly, I've lived in both, and it's obviously safer living here than anywhere with comparable freedoms (if you can find such a place) in America. You should stop drinking so much government cool aid.

You might be interested to know that my childhood best friend is in Vietnam and reports that living under the communist regime there is also better than living under the oppression of the American government. You really should try getting out more.

@JasonHardy@richard.draucker I understand. As an true blue, regulate us into non-existence, American left wingnut you just love the taste of the government cool aid.

I have a choice. I choose here because it's safer. Wrap yourself up in your U.S. Government approved reports and statistics so you can feel safe and protected just like all those little kids in that school.

Let me tell you the basis of my beliefs. I'm 59 years old, during which I have been robbed at gun point 3 times, knife point twice (one of which included being stuck), had a car stolen, and my home burglarized 3 times. The car was found 6 months later, 3 blocks from where it was stolen, on blocks and stripped. The police sent me a $300 fine for my abandoned vehicle which still had the plates on it. They never bothered to check whether it was stolen. Only one of the perpetrators who robbed me was ever caught (by the subject of another robbery, actually) or arrested; a State Trooper who got community service so he could spend the next year telling school children about the evils of drugs.

I was in Central Pa for several months teaching. My car was broken into. They stole a boom box and some old computer equipment. It was 2 teenage boys. The police didn't catch them, they were turned in by one of their mothers. They both got probation, at which point I had returned to Florida. The police refused to return my stuff. They said I needed to come back to Pa to identify it. A friend notified me that he saw the teenage son of one of the cops with my boom box.

I want my guns. I want as much firepower as possible. I want rounds that kill on impact. The cops/government had more than 20 years to prove they can protect me, they failed me just like the cops failed to protect those school children and government set them up with their "Gun Free Zone" around the school. I agree with the NRA, put well armed and well trained security guards on the premises and the schools will cease to be a target.

I now live in the Philippines where every store, every business, every school, every place has armed security, and some roads have checkpoints. My neighborhood is surrounded by a big wall with only 1 entrance protected by armed security guards who roam the streets 24/7 protecting the residents. All the properties are protected by high walls and steel gates.

Here, crime is largely limited to pick pockets and the occasional home burglary in neighborhoods that don't have security. People jog at 3 am without fear of being accosted. The police here are also far more competent at catching perps than in the states. Before moving to a gated neighborhood I did have my home burglarized. The police caught the perpetrator within a few hours; he was found dead of a brain hemorrhage in his cell the next morning. Now that's justice.

I would never move my family to the states. It's not a safe, and as fewer and fewer people are allowed to have weapons to protect themselves, it'll be even less safe.

Not a troll... you're a troll. You question my experiences? And nitpick the truth to make it a lie, instead of just "slightly inaccurate"?

A friend of mine was shot in the side with a 22 during a mugging in 1995, and I saw the damn bullet holes going in-and-out of his body. And the huge bruise following the path.

My other friend was shot in his shoulder with a 22, and he showed me the scar. The doctors even left the round in his body because removing it would have been more risky than just leaving it.

And my third friend was shot in the calf with a 22, and they also left the bullet in his leg rather than try to cut it out and risk major damage.

And fertilizer purchases were NOT scrutinized or well-regulated prior to the OKC bombing, making you the liar. Hence, the reason it was so easy for McViegh to acquire 4000 pounds of it. Every farm and fertilizer manufacturer now tracks the same of every order, and I'm sure they are required to notify the Feds of anyone making a purchase large enough to make a bomb.

There were other ANFO bombings before OKC, by the way:

The 1970 Sterling Hall bombing

The 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

They are now starting a full-blown tracking system for Ammonium Nitrate purchases:

Man you Lefties sure know how to LIE. You said, "I've known at least 3 people (maybe more) who were shot with 22's, intentionally or not, and ALL of them are alive." Well, which is it? Have you known 3 people or more that have survived being shot with a .22 caliber? And were they shot accidentally or intentionally? Seems pretty far-fetched (yet better for arguments sake) to exaggerate on the number of people shot and/or whether they were shot intentionally or not. You obviously would now the EXACT number of people shot and whether it was intentional or not.

Just so you understand and don't try to use the same LIES in future arguments, fertilizer purchases were already regulated prior to the OKC bombings. Remember, they caught McVeigh thru Terry Nichols after tracking Nichols down and questioning him, then, doing a search of his farm.

Btw, your comment "and how many bombings have we seen?" is pretty STUPID don't you think? How many OKC Bombing like events were there prior to OKC? So saying that there haven't been any more is a pretty silly assessment.

I beg to differ... I've known at least 3 people (maybe more) who were shot with 22's, intentionally or not, and ALL of them are alive.

Comparing the 22LR to the .223/5.56 NATO is like comparing a butter knife to a sword because the blade width is the same!

After the Murrah bombing, fertilizer became an ultra-regulated, tracked, monitored, and controlled substance so another bombing would be MUCH more difficult... and how many bombings have we seen?

If Adam Lanza used a Ruger 10-22 with a 10 round clip, or a 22 LR revolver, he would not have succeeded in this mission. He would have been tackled by the principal AFTER he shot her because the 22LR's lethality is NOTHING compared to the 223, which is a devastating round by comparison!